How old were your children when you retired?

[pollypocketss]

Did their age/needs impact your decision of when to retire?

Please share your experiences and thoughts :)

I am just about to retire. Mine are all in their 20s.

Yes, I think it does impact on the date you go as most of us are financing 'children' but not 'adults'.

I realise 'students' transcend this.

And at what age did you retire? Should have added that in my original post sorry!

Following

I retired when I was 60 and my children were aged 30, 31 and 35. All were in good, well paid jobs and owned their own homes. They achieved this with no financial help from me or their father but by saving hard while living in very cheap rented housing. I started to make financial plans to retire when I was about 50 and had paid off my mortgage, my kids had all left university and were working so I had some spare money.

My daughter has just has her first child at age 38 and probably won’t be in the same position as I was in (financially and life style wise) until she is in her late 60’s - unless she gets her inheritance before then!,

They were mid twenties, financially independent and saving to get on the housing ladder.

How you plan your retirement depends on your existing savings / assets and what you plan to do to help your children. If you’re paying private school fees / want to pay uni fees then retiring at 60 with a 13 year old is probably stupid. But if that child is in state, and there’s no intention to support them in uni then why not?

When I retired my DCs were in their late 30s and early 40s.

My children were early 30s when my husband and I retired. They were both financially independent and had both bought houses with financial help from us so yes that influenced our retirement date. We were in our late 50s.

OH and I will be 55 when we retire next year. DS will be 13. We live in Scotland so if he goes to university, it’s likely to still be free. But even if it isn’t, he can deal with the loan aspect. He’s got a decent amount in his JISA that should more than cover his university living expenses.

Thank you everyone, great insight! Hopefully more responses today.

My dad was 23 when his dad retired in 83, he was the youngest by a considerable amount.

My DBro and I will be in our 40s when my parents retire.

DD will be in her mid 40s when I retire (unless I win the lottery first!).

I was late 50s when I stopped work, DCs were early to mid 30s.

Having my kids in my early 20s really paid off financially for me in the long term, they were grown and independent by the time I had to give up work. We'd paid off our mortgage, and benefited from our area becoming gentrified around us.

Which was all luck, no planning or foresight went into any relevant decisions at all!

At the time though, when they were dependent, it was a struggle to bring them up, we were very hard up at times.

I'm still not rich by any means, but we are able to manage.

18 and 19 with the older one on a four year degree. We managed.

Thinking of retiring at 55 when my DD will be 18 and just starting university probably. May go part time while she is a student so as not to dip into savings too much but depends on investment returns. 🤞

I retired at 57 when my children were 23 and 21. I am still supporting them both to some degree and if I had known how expensive that would be I might have stayed on, but my job was starting to impact my health. Am now poorer, but much fitter than I used to be. Hopefully this is the year they will become self supporting.

I was 31 when my dad died, he was still working full time with no plans to retire.

I am ds5's carer so I will carry on doing that, probably until I die. I always said I would get a job when he needs me less but that hasn't happened yet.

I'm 64 and still working: youngest DS is has another year of uni. I think I'll retire at 66, when DC will be 33,30 and 24.

I will be retiring in 2026 at 61/62 - haven’t decided if i’m going in August or December of that year.

DC will be 40 , 38 and 35 by that point and are all married with their own homes.

My decision to retire isn’t based on them though as they have been financially independent for years now.
I could have retired at 55 but wanted to keep building a pot for retirement and also to treat the family too!

These responses are so wholesome, thank you everyone!

I am 36 and feel like retiring now 😂 but I know I have a long way to go. Sometimes I wonder if I will want to work/will be able to work until I'm 60, I feel so shattered now! Maybe because I have a toddler.

Dh retired at 53 when the DC were 19 and 21 and still at Uni. The plan had been to retire at 55 ( which is when I retired, we are same age) when they had both finished Uni but he was given too good a package to not leave when he did.

I retired a year ago at 60, with an 11 year old.

It's great. I'm endlessly happier, much fitter, two and a half stones lighter, and I've got so much more time to spend with my daughter.

Retirement was a really positive thing to do in every way.

I intend to retire in one year when I am 65. I don't think DH will retire before 70.

The DC will be 31 and 27. Both able to live independently but that's largely due to help they have had from us (in the context of owning property which they wouldn't have managed in London/South East).

My plan is to retire at age 62. That's the year my youngest child turns 18. Hopefully the numbers will all add up for it!

My mum has just retired at age 62. I'm 41.

I retired at 65, children were 45,39,32 and (second marriage) 24. I still help out sometimes financially and definitely with child care,as I did with the older grandkids while working (nights) they had no bearing on my retirement. I was unable to sleep in the day the last year,and had a 100 mile round trip commute. I had done my bit.